Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters.

And it's the same argument the White House makes. But that's the point of the legislation, to allow lawsuits. When McCain and the White House say the legislation "opens us up" to more lawsuits, it sounds like that's a regrettable side effect, and therefore a problem.

Apparently the bill is intended to allow someone to wait until they are about to retire to sue their employer for an entire careers worth of "back pay" in one big lottery-like bonus, because the bill is named after someone who did just that.

I can picture the full page ad in the yellow pages right now:

"GET A LAWYER AND SUE YOUR EMPLOYER"

Heck, why not. Your lawyer gets half if you win, and you get the other half. If you lose, you pay nothing.

Those "poverty-stricken cities and towns" won't be helped when their struggling businesses are wiped out by this sort of lawsuit.